Ecobank records impressive half year results
Ecobank Ghana released its 2017 half-year results confirming its place as the largest bank in terms of revenue, loans, assets and deposits.
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The half-year saw the bank take an industry lead in total revenue which stood at GH¢571million.
In the face of stiff competition in the banking industry and having just emerged as Bank of the year, indications are that the bank is set to defy all negative market conditions and hammer home on its strongest indicators that should propel the bank into yet another lead by the end of the year.
A Chief Finance Officer of Ecobank Ghana (CFO), Mr Edward Botchway, said the key drivers for the bank were the customer deposit, which had grown by 28 per cent.
“The changes we have made are to move our customers from banking in the branches to getting them to banking online, on the POS and on our master cards,” he said.
“These new ways of doing banking digitally have made people trust us enough to place their funds with us and those are the areas we have made progress on over the year,” Mr Botchway said.
Although the performance in total revenue was a three per cent reduction on its performance in the previous year, it was enough to put the bank ahead of the pack.
In terms of revenue, Ecobank posted the highest revenue among its industry peers, recording a half-year revenue of GH¢571,273 million, which is a three per cent decrease.
Checks show that industry players such as StanChart posted a half-year result GH¢326 million, which represents 10 per cent growth, while GCB recorded GH¢528 million, representing a two per cent increase, and Barclays Bank recorded a half-year result of GH¢460 million, representing a 49 per cent jump.
“There is progress in revenue. We continue to have the biggest balance sheet across the industry compared to our peers; we continue to have the biggest loan book, biggest deposit and at the end of the day that is the vote of confidence that people have,” Mr Botchway said.
Profit before tax stood at GH¢201m, which result was mainly hampered by high impairment cost.
Nevertheless, efficiency was greatly displayed with only a seven per cent growth in operating costs.
“As Ecobank improves on its income the bank continues to believe in working effectively and efficiently, eliminating waste and improving on its return on average assets and equity in the interest of its shareholders,” the CFO said.
The bank also boasts a strong loan, which the CFO said was carefully targeted at supporting the country’s economy.
Ecobank loan book was GH¢3.4 million, while StanChart posted GH¢1.36 million. GCB and Barclays Bank gave out GH¢1.3 million and GH¢2.2 million respectively.
Ecobank Ghana, an affiliate of the Pan-African Bank which has the dual objective of building a world-class pan-African bank and to contribute to the economic development and financial integration of the African continent, contributed its quota by recording a lead in total loans at ¢3.44 billion, total assets at ¢8.49 billion as well as deposits at GH¢5.98 billion, which year on year grew by 28 per cent.
With its current performance, Mr Botchway is confident of an eventful second half of 2017.